Spiritual Gifts

              

                Many Christians feel as though God is not using them. They don’t realize the works God wants to use them for. They are a vessel for God to shine through but they can’t yet realize this. They expect to be able to perform miracles but God has different spiritual gifts and talents for everyone and He will use them at different times. We aren’t supposed to be jealous of each other’s spiritual gifts but be glad that we are serving God as his children.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same

Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but the same

God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the

manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

-1 Corinthians 12:4-7

                Each gift is just as important as the next. We all have Jesus as our Lord and Savior therefore we are a unit and we all have different purposes that complement each other.

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I

do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that

reason cease to be part of the body.”

-1 Corinthians 12:15

                If certain parts of the body did not exist than how can it be called a body? In the same way, if certain people with certain gifts did not exist then how could the body function properly? It can’t. Some people have knowledge. Others have wisdom or the gift of prophesy. Some can heal or perform miracles. Some receive the gift of faith and to others, intercession. Some can speak in tongues and other can interpret tongues. However, they all share the same Spirit and God gives each gift according to what he determines. Some people have many gifts, others have just 1 or 2. But that doesn’t make them any more or less important.

“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are

indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable

we treat with special honor.”

-1 Corinthians 12:22-23

                The more we serve the Lord, the more God guides us in using these gifts and letting them be used for His works.

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,

they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in

your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-2 Peter 1:8

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve

others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms.”

-1 Peter 4:10

                We must use these talents and gifts God gave us. We can’t be lazy or we will be judged accordingly. Proverbs 28:19 says, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.” Not only will he be poor, but he will lack God’s blessings! We can see this in Matthew 25:14-30, The Parable of the Talents. In this parable, a man went on a journey and entrusted his talents (a type of money) to each of his servants according to their abilities. To one man he granted five talents, to another two, and to the third one. The servants with five and two talents went to work and doubled what the master gave them while the third servant buried his one talent. To the men who increased the talents, the master praises them. To the one who buried the one talent he says, “You wicked, lazy servant!” It goes on to say that whoever has will be given more and to others who have even none will be taken from and cast into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This parable is discussing our use of God’s gifts he gives us and how we should use them. We need to work for him and draw people to Him. We need to pour our blessings onto others or we will be cast into Hell. If we work for Him he will increase our "talents" and gifts.

              Whatever gifts God has given us we cannot fail at. He won't let us. So don't be afraid and let Him move you!

Don’t know what your Spiritual gifts are? You can take a spiritual gifts test here: http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/index.htm

             I didn't know what my spiritual gifts were either. I took the test and had several gifts that topped the list with the same amount of points. These gifts were hospitality, giving, pastoring, teaching, evangelism, knowledge, wisdom, faith, encouragement, exhortation, missionary,  healing, intercession, mercy, leadership, apostleship, writing, and craftsmanship (some say craftsmanship and writing are talents, not gifts). At first, I thought that it was absurd that I could possess all of these gifts. However, in these  last 2 months, after I 100% committed my life to God, I have notice all of these gifts showing through me all for the glory of God. At first, it started out with just one or two of the gifts showing but as I started to devote more time to God, more gifts started to shine. Don't let opportunities pass you by; experience what God has planned for you!

Are You Committed?

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the

one and love the other, or he will be devoted

to the one and despise the other.”

-Matthew 6:24

                In our relationship with God we need to be 100% committed to Him. We cannot say that we live for Him if we only go to him when we need something and then continually sin or forget about God when we are financially stable or feel that things are going good for us. We can’t maintain a strong relationship with the Lord if we don’t do his will for us. He won’t let his grace rain down on us if we turn our backs.We will be punished when the time for His judgment comes. We cannot wait and delay our confession of Christ until we are on our death bed so we can live rebelliously either because we do not know when we are going to die. We could die instantly in a car accident and never receive the opportunity again to be saved.

               

“But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless

and in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”

-Hebrews 6:8

                We need to be careful not to backslide into our old ways. God is a jealous god and will not let His kingdom be a divided one.  If we confess Jesus as our savior but then don’t live according to His law and His will then we are not useful to Him and we bear bad fruit. We bear bad fruit because we are not being righteous. When we bear bad fruit we are not drawing people to Christ; we are turning them away or not even letting them see who Jesus is. What is fruit in biblical terms? It is the manifestation of God’s works. And the only way to bear good fruit is through Him. You can say that you are a follower of Christ but that won’t save you; how do you live your life? Are you just a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15)?

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain

 in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

-John 15:4

                How do we remain in Him? Through Christ’s words. We must take up our own cross so that our sinful life can be cut off and we can be made alive in the Spirit. In Luke, when it says that we are to lose our life to save it, it means that we are to give up our own free will to perform God’s will so that we may bring others to Him and have Jesus as our savior. Therefore, we do save our life but it’s not our earthly life we save. Instead, we are saving our everlasting life so we aren’t cast into the lake of fire. The things on this earth are not as important as the promise of new life that we will have in Heaven after the Son of Man returns to harvest his people during the Rapture.

“Then he said to them all, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his

 cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses

his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole

world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

-Luke 9:23-25

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

-Luke 14:27